Emergencies and Indoor Air Quality Resources for Businesses and Institutions in Puerto Rico

Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a new Emergencies and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) website to provide the public with information about how to protect themselves and their IAQ before, during, and after emergencies.

The agency suggests that preparation and response to weather-related and man-made emergencies is particularly important when it comes to indoor environments, since humans spend most of their time indoors, and rely on indoor spaces for shelter. Specific areas of focus listed by EPA include wildfires, floods, power outages, extreme heat, and winter weather.

Regarding floods, the agency warns they can make the air indoors unhealthy. This is because when things remain wet for more than 24-48 hours, they usually get moldy. Floodwaters can even carry biological and chemical contaminants indoors, which may affect people’s health. Power outages that last longer than a few hours can also adversely impact indoor air quality. EPA encourages individuals to take action to prevent the buildup of harmful indoor pollutants during an outage, including deadly carbon monoxide from generators or other sources. They also caution that when indoor temperatures rise, people can suffer from potentially deadly illnesses, including heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

“Puerto Rico is no stranger to devastating hurricane and tropical storm emergencies that can cause havoc on indoor air quality conditions in homes, schools, businesses, and institutions,” said Harry Pena, President of Zimmetry Environmental. “A key component of being prepared for these types of emergencies is having a plan in place that identifies which professionals can inspect, test, monitor, train, and develop solutions for a wide range of air quality conditions. In the Caribbean, Zimmetry provides these resources. We offer a wide range of indoor air quality, industrial hygiene, infection control, and other environmental, health, and safety services. These include testing and monitoring for airborne chemical and biological hazards. Our experts are also available to provide regulatory compliance assessments and management training, personal protective equipment and safety training, and many other services that are crucial for being able to quickly respond to a wide range of indoor air quality emergencies.”

Zimmetry recently sponsored an educational video about emergencies and IAQ that can be seen at: https://youtu.be/8-1AGD52_fk

To learn more about indoor air quality, industrial hygiene, environmental, infection control, and compliance testing and consulting resources, please visit www.zimmetry.com, call (787) 995.0005, or email info@zimmetry.com .

About Zimmetry Environmental
Since 2002, Zimmetry Environmental has been providing environmental consulting services to building owners and managers, architects, engineers, EHS professionals, and Fortune 500 companies. The company is based in Puerto Rico and provides services across the Caribbean and Central America. The professionals at Zimmetry offer environmental compliance, indoor air quality, asbestos, lead-based paint, Phase I ESAs, and general environmental consulting services.

Contact Information

Paul Cochrane

President

Cochrane & Associates, LLC

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